16.00-17.30Opening Ceremony (Main Auditorium, Darling Harbour Convention Centre)The opening speech will be delivered by the Parliamentary Secretary to the Treasurer, the Hon. Chris Pearce MP. The ceremony will also include speeches by the President of the International Statistical Institute, Stephen Stigler; and the Chairman of the National Organising Committee and Australian Statistician, Dennis Trewin.

Speakers will cover the role of statistics in the world, the role of national statistical agencies, and the contributions of the Australian Bureau of Statistics to informed decision making in Australia over the past 100 years.

Media are invited to attend this event or any others that they may wish to cover throughout the Session. There are about 1,000 topics on all aspects of statistics from around the world. Many of them would have appeal to specialist reporters. Not since 1967, when the Session was last hosted in Australia, has there been a concentration of statisticians in Australia like this. If you wish to come, please free to call me or send me an email. If you turn up unannounced at the conference please register at the reception desk on arrival.TV and radio please note: There will be splitter boxes only in Harbourside Auditoriums 1 and 2.